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Making sense of servings: Mayo Clinic

By Mayo Clinic

Tues., May 21, 2013

Estimating your servings at meals is a great way to control the calories you consume. However, most people underestimate serving sizes. This means they’re consuming more calories than they think they’re getting.

Most people underestimate serving sizes. (Dreamstime photo)

Here’s an exercise to help you get a better sense of serving sizes: Without using any measuring devices, pour dry cereal into a bowl until you have what you think is about one half a cup. One serving of dry cereal is one half cup. Next, pour the cereal out of the bowl and into a measuring cup. How close did you come?

Most people think of a half-cup serving as being a greater amount than it actually is. Try this exercise a few more times to see if you can get closer to the estimate. Try this exercise with foods that you frequently eat.

The more you practice, the more control you’ll have over portion sizes when you’re dishing up a meal, Mayo Clinic nutrition experts say.

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